OK my friend has an OmniFi system in his truck, basically it holds MP3 files and plays them through your stereo. However they have since gone out of business or stopped making them. I have been looking around for something similar and found Phat Noise, which appears to based on the same ideas but i cannot figure it out. the website is http://www.phatnoise.com i beleive. From what i read on the site you need to use a Kenwood deck or your stock stereo. MY stereo is not stock and i havea sony, soon to be alpine deck. I don;t have an iPod either and i am not buying one. What, if anything, have you guys done or heard about your in car audio in terms of MP3. I ma sick of holding 20+ cd;s in my car. thnx all

In my 350z i have a bose system. I put in an aftermarket pioneer amp and two alpine subs. They have just come out with a connecter for an ipod but there is no section for mp3 plug ins. I did however, see a head unit at an audio store that has an mp3 plug in. you can either plug in a mp3 player or even a usb jump drive and it will play on your cd player.

hmmm i tihnk i have seen those around as well, i think i am jsut being really picky about it lol. The thing i am looking for is similar to an external storage unit that plays the music. Similar to the USB but hold like 100G of memory instead of the little jump drive. Worse case scenario i find one of those.... thnx for that info though

Yeah I've heard of the music keg. Hard drive based is the way to go!!! Right now I'm working on my own solution for that problem, because I hate CD's so very much. Maybe I'll get around to actually putting it in the car someday soon but I managed to build a car computer complete with LCD touchscreen and 200GB hard drive for music and whatnot.

There isn't a retail solution that would satisfy me for a decent price so thats why I put my own together. The music keg does come close, though, and its easy to setup comparatively.

from what i have read the Music Keg only uses Kenwood Head units? i mean i do not really care about the brand! i am gonna have to look into it because i got way too many cds in my car. Thnx alot for the input guys.

i work at circuit city and the hot thing is the radios that have the usb imput in the front of the headunit...people have been plugging like 2G thumbdrives and what not and just play their music that way which is tight...there has also been talk in our store that soon possibly they will be getting rid of CD's and putting everything on another audio source...maybe DVD's or thumbdrives...if you want everything get a carputer...you can build one for like 500 and thats with a 100G hard drive...

Something that would be nice is if there was a cheap cd player that could read DVDs filled with MP3's. That would be slick. The USB headunits look nice though, and 4GB thumbdrives are inexpensive now, so I guess there is not much point.

I think the market is biased against people with very large music collections, but perhaps that will change as more people purchase their music electronically.

@ robitrice, how much music data do you have/need to make room for? Its much easier/cheaper/reliable if you stick with flash memory for your storage medium.

well as of right now i have over 650 music files, and i only have so much room for CD's in my car. I need a new headunit anyway, and i ma thinking of doing the thumbdrive thing. And yes i agree the market is biased towwards people with large music collections. thnx for the idea everyone.

looks like i may have found my solution. my buddy has that Omni Fi system that is no longer made and might be selling it just because he doesn't use it. Hopefully he will sell it so i can snatch it up.

[quote="Nathan"]Kenwood music keg will do the trick - and it works with anything that can receive an FM signal or you can wire it direct.
the music keg is the tits, but i don't think they make it anymore,but i could be wrong. i know someone who has one and they say they love it. i too suffer from this problem, my cd wallet seriously weighs like 15 lbs. i think i'm going to go Sirius, only because i hate that compressed mp3 sound.

I know what you mean. I've reripped my entire CD collection multiple times because of this. Right now I have everything at 320kbps constant bitrate and I tell you there is simply no discerning it from CD audio. The stuff they sell on itunes and the like are often around 192kbps and are easy to tell from the original.

There are other codecs besides mp3 that are better, but it is often hard to find devices that support them.

wow u guys are getting in depth, i a h ve no idea what your are talking about lol. but none the less its nice to see what people are doing.

Even though 192 may have the capacity for accurate playback, the compression algorithm must be lacking.
I think it is highly dependent on the music selected, the recording quality, and the stereo the music is played on. I'm not trying to be snobby, but on much of my favorite music, if it is run through LAME at VBR anything or CBR 192 - it just bothers me the differences I hear.

I must admit that high-bitrate VBR is pretty good, and there are some selections where I can't tell the difference. It is especially good with electronic music. Also, if I download music I just get the best version I can and am happy with it. How could it bother me if I've never heard a "better" version of the song?

what are cd's?
whats an MP3?

man, I thought I was cutting edge ahead of the game when I put in my tape deck...

I use an FM modulator on my PSP so I can play music, watch movies, and if I waiting on someone I can play my games with surround sound. It was only 25 bucks too

Check this out.... the Ultimate in high-fidelity:



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no skipping or anything...